I get many e-mails from readers asking whether I have a financial planner and if so, who? I get some e-mails even from financial planners simply looking for business.So, the answer is yes, I do have a financial planner because I don’t believe in doing it myself--sort of akin to the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client or the neurosurgeon who decides to operate on herself. Nope, I may know a lot but I still don’t know what a tried and tested financial planner knows.

After thinking about it for quite some time, I selected one. I usually don’t name names but for you financial planners out there who may want to question what my modus operandi was, I generally follow the Grouch Marx edict to go to the top. I know that sounds a bit pompous but with something as important as this, I opted for someone who was in my sphere of reference in that they had to know who Arthur Godrey was. With all due respect to the young financial planners out there, I went for an individual with whom I could communicate on a one-to-one basis from a common frame of experience and background. If we both rode up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt, all the better.